UK lung cancer treatment 'lags behind Europe'

The quality of treatment for patients with lung cancer in the UK is not as good as that found in other western European countries, a report suggests.

According to the latest annual National Lung Cancer Audit, there has been an overall improvement in the quality of lung cancer care provided in UK hospitals.

However, some hospitals still do not provide acceptable standards of care and there is wide variation in the proportion of patients who undergo surgery and receive chemotherapy.

For instance, patients in some trusts are more than four times more likely to be given surgery than those in other trusts, and some hospitals offer chemotherapy to far more patients with small cell lung cancer than others.

Tim Straughan, chief executive of the NHS Information Centre, which published the report alongside the Royal College of Physicians, said that while there have been overall improvements since 2006, there is still 'wide variation' between hospitals.

'Trusts need to look carefully at the areas where their performance varies with national averages and expected levels of attainment and address the underlying causes,' he claimed.

More than 38,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer every year in the UK, making the disease the second most common form of cancer.

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